An Inspirational + Lifestyle Blog

For years I thought lasagna was hard to make. I loved eating lasagna, but only ordered it at restaurants. When I finally looked up a recipe I couldn’t believe I hadn’t tried making it sooner! It’s delicious, fairly easy to make, and makes a LOT.

Winning.

I found this particular recipe a few years ago in a Betty Crocker magazine, and it’s been my go-to ever since. I started making it when we had family in town, or when we had a group of friends over. My father in law liked it, and afterwards told me he doesn’t usually like lasagna. It’s not all the way to the sauce homemade, but it’s a good middle ground between all from scratch and buying one in the freezer section of your grocery store.

You start with jarred spaghetti sauce to save time, but enhance it with some crushed red pepper, garlic, and basil. The red pepper doesn’t make it spicy, it just gives the sauce a deeper flavor. Then it’s just a matter of layering all that cheese, noodles, and saucy goodness.

I made it according to the recipe for the pictures, but usually I add more spaghetti sauce and cheese. It probably defeats the purpose of ‘healthified’ lasagna, but it’s sooooooooo good.

Since the lasagna cooks for an hour, I like to brown the hamburger ahead of time. Once the hamburger is cooked, I throw it in the freezer and it’s ready for whenever I want to use it.

If you’re looking to save even more time, use no bake noodles. Make sure you add a lot of extra sauce, but then you literally just assemble and pop it in the oven. Easy peasy.

We usually add a side of garlic bread and a salad or vegetable, but there’s been plenty of times I’ve served it on it’s own as well.

So here you go, an easy and delicious homemade lasagna that doesn’t take 3 hours to make. Enjoy!

I recently used one of my newest fonts. The Vienna Hotel font has a rustic, vintage feel that is still cute. I used this handmade typeface on my best friend’s “baby sprinkle” invitation. She’s having her third baby and already have all the necessary items. So, we created a “Baby Sprinkle” for a simple get-together, rather than a full baby shower. Her theme include cute woodland creatures. The invitation turned out really adorable.

The Vienna Hotel font can be used for several occasions like weddings, logos and more. In the download you’ll receive the open type font and hand-drawn vector extras.

One of the things that really gets to me with 4 small kids is how much they ask you for stuff throughout the day. It seems like they’re always at me for something; a snack, to go outside, where their blanket is, needing a shoe, to watch them, to listen to them, another snack, playing a game, just so much stuff.

Some days I don’t mind, but some days I have my own stuff I want or need to do, and I get frustrated because they’re constantly wanting something from me. And then I have mom guilt because really, it would probably take two minutes for whatever they’re asking, but it’s the constant stream of interruptions that get to me.Read More

It’s a fact that the majority of Americans suffer from some sort of debt. It’s no secret that debt is a stressful factor in so many lives. Whether it’s in a mortgage, car loan, credit cards or student loans. It can still cause stress in our lives.

According to NerdWallet, the average household with debt has about $15, 355 in credit card debt and about $129,579 in total. That sounds like a lot! But, remember that some of us have mortgages, car loans and student loans. These are probably some of the more common ones that do dig a pretty good size hole in our lives. I have come to realize that I will always have a mortgage payment and will always have a car payment. My student loans, well that’s a different story. I’ve been trying to pay them off since 2004 and I feel like I’ve made no leeway. A part of me feels like those aren’t going anywhere either.

Today, I’m introducing you to someone I find to be very inspirational. She’s one of the main reasons that pushed me into starting this blog. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner, writer at Making Sense of Cents, is famous for how she paid off $38,000 in student loan debt in just seven months. She also quit her day job to run her blog full-time and made around $350,000 in 2015. Yeah, I admire her!

I recently read her article on “Things You May Feel When Paying Off Debt.” She says you may feel tired. You may have to make sacrifices. You might be bored. And, you might feel like you need to keep up with the Joneses.

Now that I’m almost done with my house, it’s amazing to see the difference in my home, as well as the way I look at things I bring into it. My clothes were by far the easiest, and one of the most dramatic changes. Like the majority of people I know, I stacked my shirts in my dresser drawer. That is not the KonMari way. She has you fold your shirts and stand them up, so you can see all of them without riffling through everything.

Recently, we made a decision to change careers. I’m the only working parent while my husband is the stay-at-home dad. We want one of us home with the kids therefore my husband won’t be going back to work until after the kids are all in school. Isn’t he lucky?

It’s time for a career change for me an for my family. My job doesn’t just affect me, but it also affects them. Shift work makes it difficult to find ample time with my kids. Not to mention the lack of sleep I get from changing shifts every so few weeks. My current job just doesn’t fit for us anymore.

Sometimes funny, sometimes embarrassing, and sometimes poignant. I recently had to take Pants to doctor, and it was one of the first times we’ve had together one on one in a while. We were in the car talking about how much she loves playing with her friends that live next door, who also happen to be twins, when all of a sudden she got really quiet.

A friend recently asked me how I’m able to multi-task so well and be so motivated. I work full-time in the military, I have a side business where I design custom wedding and party invitations and decor, I also help run my husband’s homemade paracord accessories business, co-write this blog, have a dog, a husband, an almost 3 year old, a 1 year old and now a third baby on the way. I live a rather busy lifestyle.

Well, I’ll be honest here. I’m not as motivated as I once was. I’m doing what I need to stay afloat and am actually starting to fall behind. Pregnancy makes me extremely tired and sick. After I get home from work all I want to do is eat dinner, see my kids and go straight to bed. It’s rough!

But, how do I get things done? It’s all about prioritization, staying focused, having a plan and a helping hand. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Don’t wait until you’re drowning.

And, if you love muffins, blueberry is probably near the top of your list. For a long time I only made muffins with Bisquick because that’s what I grew up on, or more realistically, just bought ones already made at the store. As I got older I got a little braver with trying recipes, and thank goodness I did.

This amazing recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction knocks the socks off any other blueberry muffin I’ve made, and is just as good if not better than any I’ve bought.

Hello, Lovelies! I'm proud to say that I'm a follower of Christ, a mother of two and an always improving wife to the most wonderful stay-at-home daddy. I struggle on a regular basis to find the positives that are sometimes masked by negatives. Join my journey as I learn to find the inspiration in this crazy thing called life.

Hello everyone! I'm a stay at home mom to two sets of twins, and even though everyone says to enjoy it when they're young, I go back on forth on wishing they would get older and longing for them to be babies again. Sometimes I need to slow down and just enjoy the moment. Thanks for joining me on this journey, and I look forward to sharing my outlook and excerpts on life with 4 under 5.